Glee: The Later Years Part 1
by cappievonbuettner
Summary: After senior year, Rachel and Finn went their separate ways. Rachel has moved to New York and is pursuing her dreams. One day, Finn walks into the cafe where Rachel works. He wants a second chance. Will she give him one? Part one of Glee future fic series
1. Chapter 1: Second Chance

**Hey guys. As I'm sure you've probably noticed, Chapter One has been drastically changed. I knew that it was going in the wrong direction when I was halfway through with Chapter Two, so I decided to switch it up. I think this version is a lot better. :)**

**Have fun. :)**

**Chapter One**

Rachel Berry opens the door to the Franchia Cafe. The doorbell chimes. She's late for her 10:30 shift, her hair is put up into a wild, obviously quickly done bun, she is wearing a sweater that she just realized she wore last week, and her apron is in her hands, begging to be put on.

Rachel's alarm clock wasn't working. Damn thing. She'd have to dip into her savings to buy a new one. She wouldn't admit it to her fathers, but she was living paycheck to paycheck. Some months she barely made rent. Her life didn't suck, per se, but it was definitely hectic. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday she went to work waitressing tables at a local vegan bistro. She loved the food, which was why she applied there in the first place, but her working hours were hell; it was a 24-hour cafe. Today she would be working until 7. It seemed as if Dolly Parton's_ 9 to 5_ had become the theme song of her life.

On the days that she didn't have to work, she auditions for parts in miscellaneous off-Broadway shows. She had managed to make it to New York, yes, but she wasn't a star. Some days she wondered if she would ever become one. If someone gave her the chance to leave her dead end job, abandon her dingy apartment in Queens, move to the city, and land a once-in-a-lifetime part on Broadway, she would do it in a heartbeat. Even if she had to sell her soul to the devil to do it.

Almost immediately after graduating from McKinley she left for Juilliard. Leaving Ohio was hard for her. She had to leave all of her family and friends and her past. And when she stepped over the threshold to her first apartment, she put all of that behind her. Because even though she was scared shitless, she needed to focus on her future, and not dwell on yesterday. Or _him_.

School was hard, but she managed through it, somehow. Most nights she spent crying into her pillow. But doesn't every girl do that when she leaves home?

Rachel finished putting on her apron reluctantly, and informed her manager that she was there. She was never, _ever_ late for work, so he didn't chide her for one day.

"Rachel! Order up for table 2!" She hurried over to the counter, gathered the plates in her hands, and made her way to table 2. It was an old couple, both maybe around 60 years old. She has to pause for a second. Five years of pent-up emotions came flooding over her, and it took everything she had not to burst into tears. She set their food down on the table, composed herself, and walked to table 5 to take their order.

Her customer's face was obscured by the lime green menu, so much that it seemed as if they didn't want her to see them. But she was used to meeting crazy people; she did live in New York, after all.

"Welcome to the Franchia cafe. May I take your order?" she said in her usual polite, totally fake waitressing voice. After a couple seconds the person lowered the menu slowly, until she was eventually making full eye contact with them.

He definitely wasn't one of her normal clientele. It was Finn Hudson.

Her mind went blank, and her body went numb. She thought that she might go into shock and start flailing on the floor, but she kept her composure.

What was he doing her? What the _hell _was he doing here? In New York, so far from Ohio? Had her past finally caught up with her?

Rachel hasn't seen the boy in five years. Not since he left on a full ride football scholarship to the University of Texas. Not since the life she planned for them had fallen apart, and her heart was broken.

She can see in his face that he's grown up. There's bags under his eyes, and the worn out shirt that he's wearing has UT written on it in bright orange. He's also gotten more muscular. He is _the_ all-American boy.

She looks back up to his eyes, and she notices he's staring at her. There's a grin on his face that can't be explained. She hadn't seen it in so long, and honestly, she missed it.

"Ah yes. I think I'll take the guacamole lentil burger, please."

Should she even talk to him? Should she run away in a grand fashion and forget he ever came back around? No. She's over him. Lima, Ohio won't control her life any longer. She stutters to answer him. "A- anything else?"

"Yeah! Maybe I'll try the-" he scans over the menu again. "the spinach banana smoothie!" She can't help but notice he's being sarcastic. Same old Finn.

"Great choice. Your smoothie will be out soon." She spins around but has to hold her arms out to steady herself. She hooks Finn's order in front of the kitchen window, and the chef takes it down.

"You okay, Rachel? Ya look like you've seen a ghost or somethin'."

She laughs to herself. She did see a ghost. A particularly handsome ghost that she missed and dreamt about nearly every night for the past five years. A ghost that she had once been completely in love with. A ghost that she had a future with. A ghost that needed to get the _hell_ away from her. Now. "Nope. I am perfectly fine. Thank you for asking, Burt," she smiles at him. But she's lying. And she knows it.

Rachel continues waiting on the other tables in the diner, and made sure to direct her gaze away from table 5 at all possible costs, until of course she had to bring_ him_ his food. "Here ya go," she says as she throws his food onto the table. He just winks at her, which disgusts her and puts her in a starry-eyed daze at the same time.

She turns to walk away, but Finn grabs her wrist and somehow twists his arm so that she lands softly into the booth opposite him, with an "umph". She sighs. "What do you want Finn? Why are you here?" she says, not trying to avoid his intentful gaze.

"Never mind that now, Rach." He starts to speak but then stops and smiles at her sweetly. "Have dinner with me."

"No. I'm working."

"Later. How about six o'clock?"

"No. I'll still be working. Listen, you can't just follow me to New York and expect me to forget everything that happened. God dammit, Finn, you just can't do that!"

His smile falls. "I know. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry I ever hurt you." She can feel the sincerity in his voice. She's looking into his eyes, and they seem bright and listless, despite the bags underneath them. Rachel examines the rest of his facial features. The classic freckles that cover his nose, laugh lines deep set into the contours of his cheeks, and the dimples. Oh God the dimples. The way they twitch when the corners of his lips curve upward. How she just wants to squeeze them, like his grandmother.

Her head starts to shake. Snap out of it. Snap. Out. Of. It.

"Yeah, well sorry doesn't cut it Finn. Not anymore."

"Please?" He flashes a comical grin and bats his eyelashes. He knows just how to win her over.

Her chest rises heavily, and then falls. She looks away and pushes her hands into the seat so that she can stand. He grabs her hand again. "Is that a yes?" She can't resist that smile.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," she mutters to herself. "Fine, Finn. I'll go. Happy now?"

"Much." His smile makes her blush as he drops her hand.

Rachel gathers her thoughts and returns to work. His eyes follow her everywhere as she hurries around the restaurant. He takes large bites out of his probably cold burger. It's almost impossible for her to function properly now, and her hands start shaking. She nearly spills a scorching hot coffee pot on herself, because she was too busy giving Finn short glances from across the room. "Dammit," she whispers to herself. Suddenly he is next to her.

"You okay?"

"Yes, Finn. I am fine," she says to him, never meeting his eyes. She starts to wipe up the spilled coffee with a rag. After a minute she notices he's still standing over her. "Go away already!" She pushes his stomach. He laughs and backs up, mouthing "fine". He walks backward to his table.

The rest of her shift continues like this; he doesn't leave after he finishes eating. "Are you gonna go?" she asks him, nearly half an hour after he payed the bill. He's ordered several slices of chocolate peanut butter tofu pie so that the manager doesn't make him leave.

He looks up at her and she notices his hair. It's still deep chocolate brown, and is tussled perfectly and sticks up in all the right places. "I'm waiting for someone."

She scoffs. "Lucky them." She can hear him laugh as she turns away.

The place is still full of paying customers when she rips of her coffee-stained apron. She knows she should stay, make more money, but a part deep inside of her wants to have that date with Finn, so she doesn't.

Rachel gathers her coat and purse in her hands and pushes through the front door, without even acknowledging his existence. She's outside three second before she hears the bell ring, and Finn comes out, following her like a lost puppy. He jogs to catch up to her. "So. What's good around here?" he says, looking towards the restaurants across the street.

"I don't know," Rachel replies without feeling.

"You've been here five years, and you don't know of any good _vegan_ restaurants?" he says sarcastically. Her heart flutters when she realizes he added _vegan_ in there. He really is aiming to please.

"How can you still be hungry? You ate like ten slices of pie."

"Six, actually." An awkward silence ensues as they continue walking down the street, Rachel moving at a quick pace. "Besides, I'm not. You haven't eaten for eight hours, you should be hungry."

"Yeah, well I'm not," she says right before her stomach grumbles, almost comically.

"Uh huh," he says, accenting the last syllable. She stops out of nowhere, but Finn keeps walking because he was staring at a building. Her eyes are focused on the ground, but she can see him notice she's not next to him anymore, and walk back to her slowly. "What's wro-"

"Why are you here?"

"Huh?"

"What are you doing here?" She can feel heat rushing to her cheeks as she stammers over her words. She's gonna lost it. Rachel looks up and she can see his lips are trying to find words. "Dammit, Finn, why did you do this to me? You knew how I felt about you, and then you..." Her voice whimpers out. "I was finally starting to get over you, to get over _us_, and you then you show up, out of the blue, unannounced, and expect me to forget it all. Well I can't. I just can't!" Tears are filling her eyes now.

"Rachel, I-. I want us to start over. I'm so sorry for what I did and I hated myself for it, and I couldn't stop thinking about you, and. Listen." He tugs her chin up so her eyes meet his. "You don't have to forget what happened. Hell, you don't even have to forgive me. But damn, please give me a second chance. Please." His words are strong, and full of meaning and passion. She admires his courage.

"I don't know. I just don't know, Finn." Her tears start to fall down her cheeks. He hugs her. His long arms cover her and she buries her face into his chest and she hopes he never lets go. She's getting warm now, as his neck curves over her head. They stay like this for several minutes.

Finn pulls back and his arms attach themselves to her shoulders. He looks down at her. She can see love in his eyes. "Now. This is the first time I've been to New York, and I'll be damned if I spend it crying." One of his arms drops while the other wraps around the back of her midriff. She laughs. They start walking as he says "I saw a sign for a bowling alley a block back. How does that sound?" She looks up at him and nods. He wipes the corner of her eyes with his thumb. "Cool. _Vamos_."

**I really hope you liked this one better than the original. I do. I want the chapters to be longer, so there might start to be two or three days between new chapter postings. Hope y'all don't mind. :)**

**So, please tell me what you think in a review. If you already reviewed it and it won't let you again, don't worry, you can tell me what you thought in the Chapter Two reviews. :)**

**Oh! Also, I decided that this would become a series. Since the title is '_Glee_: The Later Years', and not '_Rachel and Finn_: The Later Years', I couldn't possibly leave out the other characters and focus entirely on Finn and Rachel. Even if I wanted to. So, after this story is over, I will start another one, surrounding other members of New Directions. When this one is coming to a close, I will ask what characters you guys want to see most. :)**

**Adios por ahora,**

**cappievonbuettner**


	2. Chapter 2: What Kind Of Fool Am I?

**Hey guys! I'm super sorry that it's been sooo long since I've last updated, but here's chapter 2 finally. :)**

**It gets steamy again, like in Chapter 8 of 'Journey After Regionals', but, well, just read it. ;)**

**This chapter is also veryyy long because I had a bunch of things I wanted to put into it. **

**:)**

**Chapter Two**

"Woo hoo! Spare!" Rachel couldn't help smile at his victory lap around the ball receiver machine. But she's no chump. She uncrosses her legs and stands up slowly. She walks to him, grabs his shirt, and pushes him with surprising force into the nearest seat.

"Care to make a friendly wager?"

He wiggles his eyebrows. "Hmm what kind of wager?"

"After we bowl all of our turns, we tally the score, and whoever wins.. gets what they want," she says, with a seductive undertone in her voice. Time for payback.

He stands back up, towering over her. He brushes a long strand of brown hair off of her face. "And what do you want?"

"How about... a new TV. My apartment is only slightly lacking without proper cable, and I'm running low on cash."

She's looking at his pink lips as he bites on the lower one. "Fine."

Rachel pokes a finger into his chest, and deliberately drags it downward. She's toying with him now, and damn, it's fun. His whole body shudders. "And what do you want, Hudson?" He seems to choke when she says his last name instead of his first.

"Kiss me," he says with confidence. Hmph. Out of everything he could've asked for, that was the simplest thing.

She laughs to herself menacingly. He looks confused as she spins around. Within seconds, she's elegantly placed her small fingers into her fluorescent pink bowling ball and sent it flying across the lane. The pins seem to knock themselves over in the wake of the incoming boulder. Strike, baby. Rachel turns toward her chair, pretending not to look at the following, open-mouthed gaze of Finn.

"How did you-"

"I come here once a week." She wouldn't admit to anyone about her new pastime before, but it was turning out to be a great skill that she could use to her advantage. After all, if she ever met up with him again, she was going to be prepared.

"That's no fair!" Finn shouts.

Ha. "It's your turn," she says, folding her arms across her chest. He looks back at the screen, and gets up sluggishly to make his way to the bowling balls, his confidence clearly shaken. He mutters something about a 'lucky shot' under his breath. "What was that?" she inquires with a smile. But she knows what he said.

"Nothing." He brings the ball in his hands to his chest, pulls it behind his back, and slings it forward in a grand fashion. The spin on it is impressive, and the strength behind it is evident, but it only knocks down four red-striped pins.

She sneaks up behind him and presses her front against his back. She grabs another ball and places it in his hands, with hers wrapped around them. "Here. Let me help," she whispers ever so softly into his ear.

And suddenly she's tumbling backwards, Finn pushing her forward without using his hands through the door of the men's bathroom. She jumps onto him and wraps her legs around his torso. With trembling fingers he locks the door behind them. She feels his hands reaching for the hem of her shirt as he puts rough, yet gentle kisses on her neck. Her head flings back in ecstasy and she feels a sharp pain in her lower back as she's thrust onto the sink counter. The faucet head is jabbing into her back, but she doesn't notice as her hands fly up in the air and her blouse is pulled along them and thrown from her body. They're silent, the only noises coming from them are short, quick inhales of breath. Finn nearly sings her name into her ear, which is turning her on even more. She lets him do all the work.

Rachel kisses his forehead as he looks down, fumbling for the button on her blue jeans. She wishes she still wore those God-awful plaid skirts like she did in high school. They made for... _easy access_... for all those times with her and Finn in the back of a muscle car in Burt's car garage. Her thoughts drift to that one time before the shop was open, and they nearly split their heads open when they slipped on a puddle of grease. But after the initial shock, they were laughing and Rachel forced herself to get over the dirty floor and allowed him to...

Finn feels so amazing underneath her fingertips, and her sharp nails claw for his white t-shirt. He knows what she wants, and his arms cross as he reaches for the opposite ends of it and pulls it over his head. His hair is mangled and brown and oh _so_ enticing, but she's staring at his chest, which has gotten considerably more hairier and tanner. Texas _had_ done him well. She starts to run her hands over his nipples while he's pushing down the denim of her jeans. He moans into her ear and suddenly his black pants are dropping, dropping to his ankles. A loud knock cracks through the heat-filled room, and Rachel is pulled back to reality. "Just a minute!" Finn replies to the door as he fixes their uncomfortable position on the counter. But Rachel pushes hard on his chest, which almost makes her regret this coming decision, but she stops herself.

"No," she whispers to him. "I can't do this." Finn's face is just as shocked as she's sure hers is.

Rachel slips off the hard wooden counter and bends over to pull up her pants up and pick her shirt up off the ground. Her butt is wet from the water that was around the sink. After she slinks back into her shirt and tidies herself, she looks up to meet his eyes, which are large. "I'm sorry, Finn. I can't." He looks disappointed, which breaks her heart. But she knows she's making the right decision.

He nods slowly and follows her actions as he puts his clothes back on. Her hand reaches up to brush the UT on his now-covered front. They linger there, but slide off as she unlocks the door, pulls the handle, and leaves Finn in the bathroom.

"_God_, how could I have been so stupid?" she thinks to herself, as her hand flicks in the air. The rain pours down hard. She calls out to a passing yellow taxi. It stops, and she looks back to the bowling alley before she enters it. "68 Lefferts Boulevard," she says, nearly a whisper. The driver looks back to her in the rear-view mirror, and nods. She hides her face in her jacket, hoping the man didn't see the tears rushing down her cheeks, like the weather outside. Rachel sees Finn running out of the place as the driver hits the gas, and starts to drive off. Their eyes lock, just for a second, and she stares at the slowly blurring figure in the rain.

**GLEE**

Rachel Berry doesn't sleep that night. But who would, after everything she went through today? Her head pushes deeper into the wet pillow on her bed, and her toes clench tighter underneath the cold, pink sheets. Why was she doing this to herself? What was she thinking? She obviously wasn't, she knew that for sure. All of these questions and more were rushing through her head, along with one-word ones like "Why?" and "How?". She forces her eyes to stay open, because the second she closes them she sees herself on the sink counter, with Finn pushing on top of her. She knows that nothing happened, but how did she let it even _start_? For the first time, she felt like one of those Hollywood whores, that would do anything to make it in life. Rachel kept trying to tell herself that it was stupid because she didn't love him anymore, she _couldn't _love him anymore. But that couldn't have been further from a lie.

The old-fashioned alarm clock on her night stand began ringing, which forced Rachel to flip the pillow over her head and pushed over her ears. Apparently it was working. With her head still hidden under the pillow she wildly reaches for the clock and slams it down, sending it flying to the floor. She wasn't going to work. She couldn't. If this wasn't cause for a sick day, she didn't know what was.

She fingers the end of the sheets and flings them down to her feet. She swings her legs around, and they fall off the side of the bed. The bottoms of her feet ache as she slumps toward her purse, which houses her cell phone. She files through its contents and finds her phone, flipping it open. The screen's blank. Dead. Great, now she couldn't tell her boss she wouldn't be coming to work. "Fuck it," she whispers to herself, astounded at the language she's using. New York had definitely changed her. In some ways better than the others. She jumps onto the couch and pulls the wool blanket at the end of it up to her feet. She shivers, and coughs. Maybe she _was_ really sick. Rachel fumbles for the remote on the coffee table and clicks the TV on. Dammit, she really wanted a new TV. And now she would never get one. It flickers to life.

FOX Sports Network. Click, she changes the channel. Paid programming for an automatic apple slicer. Click. Spanish soap opera. Click. Trailer for a football movie. Click. Click. Click. Rachel isn't paying attention to the screen now. Instead, memories of her and Finn are flashing through her mind like one of those toys that looks like binoculars and changes pictures when you push down on the lever. The first time he kissed her on the stage. Finn telling her he loved her before they performed at Regionals their sophomore year. Him serenading her on a couch with _Hey There Delilah_. Finn sneaking over to her room when they stayed in a hotel in New York, where they won Nationals senior year. The last slide is fuzzy though. She can see it clearly, as if it's in HD, but what's happening in it doesn't make sense. Bright green and red twinkling lights fill the living room. A little kid is sitting in Finn's lap, in front of a large evergreen tree. Rachel is laughing as he rips wrapping paper off of a large box. In it is a karaoke machine. Old-fashioned, in this day and age, she remembers thinking as she's buying it on eBay, but that's what made it better than the high-tech ones. The scene morphs to the three of them singing in comically large microphones, swaying back and forth in front of a large TV. And her heart breaks as she realizes what's going on.

She forces herself to think of all the bad times her and Finn shared. Rachel telling him that Quinn's baby wasn't his. Finn rejecting her in a hallway in McKinley, telling her he needed to find his "inner rock star". Their first real fight, during a road trip to New York. Her crying, feeling so small in the seat, while Finn yells at her from the steering wheel. She hates herself for bringing all of these pains back.

"I don't need to stay in this funk forever," she reasons to herself. And then she realizes that she's talking to herself, which freaks her out.

She crosses to the tiny kitchen and pulls a large yellow phonebook out of a drawer. She flips through the pages until she finds the one she wants. Her finger points to the book while she pulls out the phone, and then she remembers it was dead. "Ugh, I can't even order a damn pizza!" She runs to the phone charger and plugs her phone in. "I need Starbucks."

So she slips on the pair of jeans she wore yesterday, along with a green tank top and a tan cardigan, and almost forgets to lock the door as she hurries out of her apartment. She hails a taxi. "IKEA, please. Oh and can you stop by Starbucks? Thanks," she says without waiting for a reply. The man is about to say something when she cuts him off. "I'll double your tip." He sighs and drives off.

The drive there is long and boring, since the store she wanted to go to was on the other side of the city. And the resulting bill nearly cost her all the money she brought with her to shop with. She made a mental note to save up for a bike. It could save her money and the earth at the same time.

Rachel pulls out a long shopping cart as she sips her mocha non-dairy cappuccino through a green straw. First she grabs a golf pencil and a tape measure. She doesn't need the map though; she's been here too many times to need one. She turns and starts down the nearest aisle. She isn't halfway down it when someone rams their cart into hers.

"Oh- I'm so sorry- wait! Are you Rachel Berry?"

"Um, yes?"

"I saw you in' Promises, Promises'!" Rachel blushed. She wasn't particularly proud of that play. The director of it felt her up after the last show, promising that he would give her another part in his next musical. It was tempting, but she refused of course, and he later told her that she would never make it in the show business.

"You were utterly amazing!" She tries to respond but he keeps talking. "Sorry! I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Jacob Grossman." She shook his hand. Had she heard his name before? Yes! He just finished directing 'Funny Girl' on _Broadway_!

"Hey, I am starting production on a show called 'Funny Lady'. Maybe you've heard of it." He winked at her. Of course she had heard of it. It was the sequel to 'Funny Girl'. It wasn't nearly as successful as the original, but it was still a legend in her mind. "You would be absolutely perfect for the lead role. Maybe you could stop by my theater and audition for it?" He writes down the name of it on the back of his business card and hands it to her. "Be there at 2:30 PM, next Thursday. I promise to put in a good word for you." He winks again. "Alright! I'll see you then!" He waves off to her in a grand fashion and walks away.

What just happened? Had she just been asked to audition for a role as Fanny Brice? Her idol, the reason she, Rachel Berry, had fell in love with Broadway? She couldn't believe it. Her name would finally be in lights. She stared into space for several minutes, absorbing it all, before she dumped the cart and ran out of the store immediately.

She _had_ to practice.

**Well I hope you liked it. :) Please tell me what you think in a review! I didn't get many responses to the first chapter. :( And if you're reading this now, and didn't know that I updated Chapter 1 and changed it drastically, well GO READ THAT FIRST. :)**

**Chapter 3 will come in a couple days. Maybe longer, because I've been doing a bunch of stuff lately. :)**

**Oh! Also, Funny Lady is real. :) So is the address of Rachel's apartment! Well, it's not hers because Rachel isn't real, but you get what I mean. ;P**

**Hasta luego!**

**cappievonbuettner**


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